Key Competencies for Adolescent Well-Being: An Intervention Program in Secondary Education

TL;DR

This study explores how an intervention program affects personal skills like resilience and emotional intelligence in secondary school students, finding limited overall impact but highlighting the importance of such training.

Contribution

The study introduces a program targeting adolescent well-being through personal competency training and evaluates its effectiveness in a real-world educational setting.

Findings

Positive associations were found among resilience, emotional intelligence, self-esteem, and assertiveness before and after the intervention.

Only emotion use significantly improved after the intervention, while other variables showed no significant changes.

The program's limited impact suggests a need for more comprehensive approaches to adolescent development.

Abstract

This study examines the effects of an intervention program aimed at enhancing personal competencies in secondary education students, focusing on resilience, emotional intelligence, self-esteem and assertiveness. A descriptive, quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-intervention assessments was employed. A total of 36 first-year secondary education students participated and completed the Resilience Scale, Wong-Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Rathus Assertiveness Scale. Positive associations were observed among resilience, emotional intelligence, self-esteem, and assertiveness at both time points, with the exception of a post-intervention negative correlation between self-esteem and the appraisal of others’ emotions. While emotion use increased significantly following the intervention, no significant changes were observed in the other variables, indicating a limited impact on these specific aspects of mental and emotional health. These findings highlight the relevance of training and promoting personal competencies in secondary school students, since they serve as protective factors against social exclusion, mood disorders (e.g., anxiety and depression), and behavioral problems. Although the program improved the use of emotions, its lack of significant effects in other domains highlights the need for more programs to support adolescents’ holistic development in the academic context.

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